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USS Ronald Reagan Drug Case Raises Questions About Off-Base Reach in Japan

58 sailors from the U.S. aircraft carrier were punished over an LSD distribution case that began while it was homeported in Japan. Did their network reach into Japanese society?

The USS Ronald Reagan (CVN 76) arrives at Yokosuka Naval Base in Japan, Oct. 1, 2015.

Publicly released U.S. Navy court records reviewed by The Diplomat show that a drug distribution case aboard the aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan may have extended beyond the ship and into off-base spaces in Japan.

The case was first reported in detail by Stars and Stripes, which said on June 26, citing Navy officials, that the investigation led to the punishment for 58 sailors. Six were court-martialed, 24 were administratively separated, and 28 received nonjudicial punishment, according to that report.

“The Navy pursued accountability at a level appropriate to the offense,” the Public Affairs Office of U.S. Naval Forces Japan later told The Diplomat in a statement. “Individuals found to be involved in the distribution of illegal substances were referred to courts-martials… Other Sailors whose involvement was limited to personal use were addressed through non-judicial punishment and administrative separation.”

The Ronald Reagan was homeported at Yokosuka Naval Base in Kanagawa Prefecture until May 2024. For nearly nine years, it served as the U.S. Navy’s only forward-deployed aircraft carrier and a core element of the Japan-based U.S. 7th Fleet.

The investigation began after a 22-year-old sailor assigned to the carrier died on March 13, 2023, after falling from a barracks at Yokosuka. An autopsy found LSD in his system, and a search of his cellphone gave the Naval Criminal Investigative Service leads related to drug possession, use, and distribution, according to court records. The records do not establish what caused the fall or whether LSD contributed to it.

Public court records confirm six courts-martial: Angel Tucker, David Posmao, Allysa Riale, Artur Reykhman, Brandon Dias, and Evelyn Aguilar. All six received confinement and were reduced to E-1. All but Posmao received punitive discharges.

Tucker’s record provided the most detailed account of the network. A damage control fireman, Tucker received seven mailed shipments of LSD between February 2022 and May 2023, each containing between 350 and 1,000 LSD tabs, according to the record. The drugs were sent from the United States to Japan through the U.S. Postal Service.

Tucker took the packages to the off-base home of another sailor and co-conspirator. He then distributed some of the LSD to sailors aboard the Ronald Reagan. He handled a package of psilocybin mushrooms in a similar manner. 

Tucker pleaded guilty to seven drug-related offenses, including distribution, exportation, conspiracy, and introducing controlled substances onto a military vessel. He was sentenced to 15 months’ confinement and a bad-conduct discharge. His confinement was later reduced by six months because of his cooperation.

Based on the court records, drugs moved from the United States to Japan through the mail, passed through an off-base residence, and then reached sailors aboard the carrier. That route alone raises questions for a warship that operated from Japan with thousands of sailors and air wing personnel.

The records also contain references that suggest investigators and military lawyers considered whether the network reached people beyond U.S. sailors. In a government filing in Tucker’s confinement proceedings, U.S. military prosecutors said the United States had notified Japanese authorities of an alleged conspiracy to import illicit substances through the postal system and distribute them to “U.S. Navy sailors and residents.”

Another portion of Tucker’s record referred to suspected distribution........

© The Diplomat